Prosecutors not obligated to listen to Senate hearings: Aguirre

ABS-CBN News

Prosecutors are not obligated to listen in on the Senate hearings on suspected drug personalities including self-confessed drug boss Kerwin Espinosa, Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre said Wednesday.

Speaking to DZMM, Aguirre blamed the CIDG for failing to include Espinosa's admission of his drug links in the complaint.

(It is not the obligation of our panel of prosecutors to listen to the Senate hearing. And even if they monitored it, they cannot consider that without anybody, without the parties lifting it for their consideration.)

A panel from the justice department's National Prosecutors Service had dismissed the drug trafficking charges against Espinosa, his alleged cohorts Peter Lim and Peter Co and 19 others due to insufficient evidence.

The case filed by the police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) had cited the affidavit of Espinosa's professed bodyguard Marcelo Adorco, who detailed the drug transactions of his boss.

The CIDG did not use Espinosa's statement because he refused to corroborate it during the preliminary investigation, said unit chief Director Roel Obusan.